Northrop Grumman awarded $106.9 million contract

Northrop Grumman has received the final $106.9 million increment of a $221.8 million contract to build the 16th E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System aircraft for the US air force.

Northrop Grumman has received the final $106.9 million increment of a $221.8 million contract for full production of the 16th E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft for delivery to the US air force by March 2004.

According to Northrop Grumman, this contract also incorporates several system upgrades, including an Improved Data Modem for real-time targeting connectivity with the US army’s Apache weapon system.

This technology reportedly provides the air force with increased performance and reliability in addition to a major increase in future growth capacity for onboard battle management, all at a lower cost per aircraft.

Joint STARS is the only platform in the US arsenal that combines accurate wide-area moving target detection with synthetic aperture radar imagery to locate, classify and track ground targets in all weather conditions from standoff distances.